Ahhh, yes as far as running, you are half correct. He does sprint workouts for training, but its not specifically for cardio. Explosive training. But he isn't doing long distance. That's what I meant.

And yes he does say he lift weights for looks

GSP: "Yeah, I lift weights for looks. Yeah, I am gonna admit it. Sometimes after I'm training, I'm gonna lift weights, but I'm not doing it because I'm gonna punch harder, or I'm gonna be stronger, because it has nothing to do with it. I'm doing it because you know, I want to to be like you know, have a good shape. I do it for myself."

True. Boxers are able to do more road work because they only have to focus on striking training where as MMA fighters have to do MMA sparring, striking, wrestling, ground work etc so the volume of sport specific training significantly higher.

There really is an issue with fighters spending too much time on strength and conditioning instead of technique. All of the top fighters have excellent technique. Most are ridiculous athletes too, but without technique they wouldn'tbe champs.

There is a reason Lauzon and Miller defeated Guillard. It wasn't running or strength training.

MMA is the only sport where even the top guys aren't physically prepared to compete for the duration for their schedeuled event.

MMA fighters (generalising) do not spend too much time with S&C, they spend too much time with training gimmicks instead of meat and potatoes conditioning like boxers and wrestlers concern themsevles with. Put down the club/kettle bell and underwater rock and pick up your running shoes.

MMA is the only sport where even the top guys aren't physically prepared to compete for the duration for their schedeuled event.

MMA fighters (generalising) do not spend too much time with S&C, they spend too much time with training gimmicks instead of meat and potatoes conditioning like boxers and wrestlers concern themsevles with. Put down the club/kettle bell and underwater rock and pick up your running shoes.

Boxers fight 3 minute rounds and have 1 minute to rest in between rounds.Wrestling is usually 2 x 3 minute periods with 1 minute rest in between.MMA is usually at least 3 x 5 minute rounds with 1 minute rest in between. Big difference.

I think boxers are behind the times when it comes to training. Long distance running carries little benefit to endurance for fighting.

The reality is that it is alot harder to condition yourslef for MMA than it is for straight boxing or straight grappling. Transitioning from striking on your feet to wrestling and then wrestling on the ground is much more exhausting.

Its also not true that boxers never gas. One boxer who never gets tired is James Toney and all he does is spar in training. Running is not necessary.

You have to grapple... and particularly wrestle to know how much wind that takes out of you. Even after a "short" 6 minute wrestling match you're usually absolutely exhausted. The best way to gain the cardio for it is to do tons of live wrestling. Running a leisurely 3-5 mile jog isn't doing thattt much good other than sweating weight off. Wind sprints help more.

I asked Florian "how many miles a week do UFC fighters run?" on twitter a few years ago. He said he loves running but it's not used much for training.

Think about all the Primetime training shows: Jackson's camp does a lot of hill intervals (at least for tv). From what I've seen, most fighters get their cardio from a combination of: swimming, circuit workouts which include drills on turf, Dyna bikes, elliptical machines, weight training (yes it can build cardio), 5 rds. of sparring is a high-level cardio workout, and Hendo says he never runs but instead uses stair machines.

As a triathlete myself, I can tell you that QUALITY runs take too long to recover from for an MMA camp. It's a high-impact workout that is done once a week even by elite runners.

Willin -
You have to grapple... and particularly wrestle to know how much wind that takes out of you. Even after a "short" 6 minute wrestling match you're usually absolutely exhausted. The best way to gain the cardio for it is to do tons of live wrestling. Running a leisurely 3-5 mile jog isn't doing thattt much good other than sweating weight off. Wind sprints help more.

GSP and many others DO NOT run long distance... Its been argued that Marathon style runing is counterproductive for MMA style explosion training... Sprinting at 100% speeds in bunches and repitition help for the explosion that is nessasary for MMA.

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